Surviving Your Family Christmas

Surviving Your Family Christmas

Surviving Your Family Christmas – Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. However, when you have to juggle the whole family for the festive period things can get very stressful very quickly. Spending time with your family is of course the best part of Christmas, but you just know that aunty Jean will drink one too many Baileys and start ranting about something while your grandad falls asleep in the corner.

To avoid you starting to think about care costs for your grandparents and end up spending the whole evening sitting in separate corners of the room; here are some tips you might want to take on board for the big day…

Bring Someone New

The best way to ensure that your family behaves themselves throughout the day on Christmas is to invite a friend who no one has met before, or who they don’t know that well. It will mean that everyone in the family will stay polite, happy and any arguments which could have arisen will be avoided by their presence.

Stay Away From Home

You will no doubt have the argument every year of who is hosting Christmas day. It is unavoidable unfortunately, but if you take houses out of the equation and stay in a small cottage somewhere you can avoid the drama. Everyone will be able to pitch in with the decorations and add their own personal stamp to the place for your celebrations.

Feed The Mob

The best way to everyone’s heart is food. The best thing you can do if you want to keep morale high and everyone’s mood positive is to keep the food and drink flowing. Once your family has had a couple of glasses of wine and enjoyed some mince pies, they’ll be much more relaxed and willing to look silly playing charades.

Never Commit Ahead Of Time

If it comes up in conversation what you plan to do next Christmas, whatever you do, DO NOT accept any invitations. You don’t know what position you will be in next year and you might end up wanting to do something else instead. Keep your diary open.

Offer To Help

If it isn’t you who is hosting the festivities this year, then make sure you offer to lend a hand with the preparations. Ask in advance if there is anything you can make and bring with you such as a side dish or the trifle. The important thing is to take the stress away from the host as much as you can to keep them happy on the day and able to enjoy.

Make Effort For The Ones Who Make Effort For You

We will all have a mix of different personalities in our family. Some will be classified as takers and don’t really make too much effort with presents, food or decorations. There will then be the people in your family who put a huge amount of love, care and consideration into making their home the perfect place for Christmas. These will also be the people who take time perfecting their wrapping, and even make parts of the gifts for each person. It is important to make the extra effort to give something back to the ones who make a constant effort to make everyone happy and welcome.

Get Some Perspective

If you end up sat there on Christmas day feeling totally stressed out and like your family life is over, remember that there are people in the world who are much worse off. Try to forget about your small reservations and instead make the most of spending time with your family and friends.

Compromise is key

Remember that whenever you try to arrange anything in life, there will always be SOMEONE who is unhappy or hurt. Stop trying to please every single person in your life because it is virtually impossible for you to do. Be willing to compromise on the festivities you have planned and let everyone have one thing that they want for the day. That way everyone puts a stamp on the day and you can keep them happy.

Appreciate What You’ve Got

Look at the people around you, now imagine that they are gone. Sometimes when we have the family around us all the time we can forget how lucky we are to have them. Imagine how you would feel if they were gone, and take that emotion to fuel you through the day and get you through Christmas without wanting to punch someone.

Have A Laugh

If you can’t walk around the house in a giant chicken outfit at Christmas, then when can you? Make it a tradition with your family to wear one funny item or accessory every year. One year it could be a contest to find the most garish and ugly Christmas jumper, the next year could be that you all have to wear a wig… make a theme each year and get competitive. The person with the worst item will win a bag of chocolate coins, or they will have the pick of the crispiest roast potatoes at the table. It will be fun and you can really get the whole family involved.

Make Up Your Own Entertainment

Rather than sitting around watching TV or playing on your phones on Christmas Day, why don’t you make your own entertainment? Cut up strips of paper and get everyone to write down films, tv and music to use for Charades. Play fun board games, or combine a few and invent your own game from scratch. It will confuse everyone once they’ve had a drink, but who cares?

Go For A Walk

Once you’ve eaten Christmas dinner, why not take the time to go for a stroll in the local area before you go back and get drunk? It will give you all the chance to walk off the roast turkey, but it will also give you all the perfect opportunity for some fresh air and to have a chat while you take in the Christmas displays of houses around the area.

Break Out The Pyjamas

When everyone is full up from the turkey and Christmas pudding, change into your comfy clothes. There’s no point being uncomfortable all day in the name of fashion. Wear what feels right to you and then you can all settle down and enjoy the evening drinking and playing games together.

Christmas Movies

There will inevitably come a time in the day where no one has any energy left, and instead you all decide to settle on the sofa and watch some festive classics. It will give you chance to have some more wine, a few mince pies, and give grandad chance to have his Christmas nap in peace.

Save The Clean Up

One of the worst things to have to do after Christmas is clean up all of the cutlery, dishes and plates- and then sort out all of the recycling too. To save yourself some effort on the day, try to prepare some of the food in advance and leave them in disposable dishes ready for serving. It also means that once the day is over you can throw the dishes away and save yourself a mountain of washing up. Some of the things you can make in advance of the big day are gravy, roast vegetables, desserts and even stuffing balls. It will mean that your Christmas morning is much less stressful and you can take it slow with the cooking and spend much more time with your family.